24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B) - 15 September
15th September 2024
“Follow after Christ and carry your cross for your salvation, as Christ carried His Cross for your salvation.” - St Anthony of Padua
A reflection on today's Gospel by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"An intrinsic connection existed between the affirmation of Christ’s Divinity and His death and Resurrection. At the very moment that Christ received the loftiest of all titles, and the confession was made of His exalted dignity, He prophesied His greatest humiliation. Both the human and the Divine natures of Christ were involved in this prediction, namely, that of the Son of Man Who appeared before them and the Son of the Living God Who had just been confessed.
"Peter puffed up with the authority that had been given him, took Our Lord aside and began rebuking Him. The Divinity of Christ, he would accept; the suffering Christ, he would not. The rock had become a stumbling stone; Peter would have a half Christ for the moment, the Divine Christ, but not the Redeemer Christ. But a half Christ was no Christ. He would have the Christ Whose glory was announced at Bethlehem, but not the full-orbed Christ, Who would be a sacrifice for sins on the Cross.
"Peter thought, if He was the Son of God, why should He suffer? Satan on the Mount of Temptation tempted Him from His Cross by promising popularity through giving Bread, working scientific marvels, or becoming a Dictator. Satan did not confess the Divinity of Christ, since he prefaced each temptation with an 'if'—'If Thou art the Son of God.' To the credit of Peter, he did confess Divinity. But along with this difference, there was this likeness: both Peter and Satan tempted Christ from His Cross and therefore from Redemption. Not to redeem was Satan’s mind; to have the crown without the Cross was Satan’s spirit. But, it was also Peter’s. Therefore, Our Lord called him Satan.
"In an unguarded moment Peter had let Satan in his heart, thus becoming a stumbling stone on the road to Calvary. Peter thought it was unworthy of Christ to suffer; but to Our Lord such thoughts were human, carnal, and even Satanic. Only by Divine illumination did Peter or anyone else know Him to be the Son of God; but it took another Divine illumination for Peter or anyone else to know Him for the Redeemer. Peter would have kept Him a Teacher of humanitarian ethics—but so would Satan.
"Peter never forgot this rebuke. Years later, with the idea of a stumbling block still in his mind, he wrote about those who refused to accept the suffering Christ as he had at Caesarea Philippi: ‘He is something other to those who refuse belief; The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone at the corner, a stone to trip men’s feet, a boulder they stumble against.’ (I Peter 2:7)
"That the Apostles had their eloquent spokesman in Peter, and that they were all equally shocked at their Master’s suffering, is evident from the fact that after personally rebuking Peter, He spoke to all of His disciples and bade even the multitude to heed His remarks. To all who would ever profess to be His followers He enumerated three conditions: ‘If any man has a mind to come My way, let him renounce self, and take up his cross, and follow Me’ (Mark 8:34). The Cross was the reason of His coming; now He made it the earmark of His followers. He did not make Christianity easy; for He implied not only must there be a voluntary renouncement of everything that hindered likeness with Him, but also there must be the suffering, shame, and death of the Cross. They did not have to blaze a trail of sacrifice themselves, but merely to follow His tracks zealously as the Man of Sorrow. No disciple is called to the task that is untried. He had taken the Cross first. Only those who were willing to be crucified with Him could be saved by the merits of His death and only those who bore a Cross could ever really understand Him.
"There was no question of whether or not men would have sacrifice in their lives; it was only a question of which they would sacrifice, the higher or the lower life! ‘He who tries to save his life will lose it; It is the man who loses his life For My sake, that will save it (Luke 9:24)’. If the physical, natural, and biological life was saved for pleasure, then the higher life of the spirit would be lost, but if the higher life of the spirit was chosen for salvation, then the lower or physical life had to be submitted to the Cross and self-discipline. There might be some natural virtues without a Cross, but there would never be a growth in virtue without it."
(Life of Christ)
Prayer to Know and Follow Christ (St Augustine of Hippo)
Lord Jesus, may I know myself and know Thee, and desire nothing save only Thee. May I hate myself and love Thee. May I do everything for the sake of Thee. May I humble myself and exalt Thee. May I think of nothing except Thee. May I die to myself and live in Thee. May I receive whatever happens as from Thee. May I banish self and follow Thee and ever desire to follow Thee. May I fly from myself and fly to Thee, that I may deserve to be defended by Thee. May I fear for myself and fear Thee, and be among those who are chosen by Thee. May I distrust myself and trust in Thee. May I be willing to obey on account of Thee. May I cling to nothing but to Thee. May I be poor for the sake of Thee. Look upon me that I may love Thee. Call me that I may see Thee, and ever and ever enjoy Thee. Amen. 💐🙏💖